1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to accounts payable processing systems, and more particularly relates to a web based system for receiving and processing electronic and paper invoices.
2. Related Art
Almost all large organizations face the ongoing challenge of implementing an efficient accounts payable system. In particular, the collecting, reviewing and paying of supplier invoices are fraught with problems for organizations having large volumes of such invoices. The challenge becomes particularly complex because such organizations often have multiple divisions that perform different functions and exist at disparate geographical locations. Because large organizations are required to pay for many different types of goods and services from many different sources, there tends to be little uniformity in the manner in which invoices are received and processed. This lack of uniformity makes automation difficult and leads to overall inefficiencies in the accounting process.
The lack of invoice uniformity arises for various reasons. For instance, some suppliers may be equipped to submit payment requests electronically, while others may be only equipped to submit fax or paper invoices. Those suppliers submitting paper invoices may use a variety of paper formats, generally dictated by the supplier's accounting system. In addition to receiving invoices from outside suppliers, some invoices may originate internally from, for instance, employees seeking reimbursement.
In addition to the overall lack of uniformity in the format of invoices, the process of handling invoices once they are received may differ depending upon the type of payment request. For example, the accounts payable system may not require extensive details for regularly recurring matters (e.g., purchase orders or “PO's”) since the vendor information may already be stored by the system. Conversely, non-recurring matters will generally require additional details that may not be available from the supplier, but rather may need to be provided by an internal person who made the request. Moreover, some invoices may require approval, while others may not. Accordingly, because large organizations must deal with so many types of invoices and payment request procedures, the ability to efficiently automate the processing of invoices and to provide useful and timely accounts payable information is severely limited.
Most related art automated solutions are directed at facilitating the supplier's invoicing and payment collection process, as opposed to providing a solution for organizations (i.e., consumers) that must deal with many different suppliers. Such an example of a “supplier solution” is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,528, issued to Hogan, entitled, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BILL DELIVERY AND PAYMENT OVER A NETWORK, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,380, issued to Anderson et al., entitled, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELECTRONICALLY PROCESSING INVOICE INFORMATION, which is hereby incorporated by reference, teaches a “consumer solution” for processing invoices received from suppliers, but relies on an intermediary, such as a bank, to receive and process the invoices. Accordingly, it fails to provide a solution for organizations that utilize their own accounts payable system.
Accordingly, the related art fails to provide an adequate solution that will allow accounts payable departments to automate the processing of invoices. Without such a solution, large organizations will continue to have unacceptable accounting inefficiencies.